Critical Reflection

The media product that I have made is the music promotion package, which includes a music video, an official social media page for the artist, and a digipak for the album’s release. The genre I chose was Pop. The pop music genre is one of the predominant ones and appeals to a worldwide audience of various age groups. The pop genre could also be easily integrated with other genres as well to make crossover pop music. This means that people with different tastes in music could easily be drawn to listening to pop music since it could be interpreted in different ways. This also gave me the freedom to be creative in my own way, knowing that I have an already in-grown audience. 

The artist that I have shown in my music video is a teenager aged almost 17. The opening of my music video introduces her character as an average teenager, who has trouble getting out of bed. I have used mise-en-scenes of a messy room, stuffed toys around her, canvas painting, a sketchbook, a novel, and a huge teddy bear laying. Some of the performance scenes are shot in a park, where she performs sitting on a playground spinner. All of these build up her personality, giving her an innocent side. Further on, the narrative unravels her struggles and the way she is using the song to express how she feels about herself.  

All of these are realistic portrayals of teenage struggles. I have highlighted the issues regarding teenage depression and mental health struggles. I have also observed that more and more teenagers now listen to songs that hit them more personally and are more about relatability than the unrealistic features of fun, partying, etc. I think this is a very sensitive theme of narrative that I chose and it was pretty hard to convey it with appropriate usage of mise-en-scene, camera angles, and editing. I tried my best to convey the right message and portray the girl in a realistic manner so the audiences who can relate may see their reflection in her. 

One convention of pop music videos is the use of a lot of CU, MCU, and MSs of the artist to keep most attention to them. I also incorporated many of the codes and conventions of a pop music video. I mostly used MCUs and LMSs of the performance scenes to keep the most attention on the artist, so it comes out as more impactful. I also used fast-paced narrative shots, with the help of action-match and jump shots so the visuals go in sync with the music. However, unlike most pop music videos, most of my camerawork had hand-held camera movements, especially for the performance. I did this since the song was slow and I had to add a naturalistic effect. I also used a few canted CU and MCU shots for the artist and the child actress, to add complexity to their characters. I did not give much attention to their costumes, though props such as the stuffed toys in her room, sketching material, etc were a major focus for me since they were supposed to hint into her personality. I wanted to create a bathetic impact by showing her as innocent with the use of such mise-en-scenes but at the same time singing to lyrics that are dark and have gloominess to them. Low-key lighting was supposed to play a key role to create a gloomy, dark atmosphere. But I personally think I overdid it and it got too dark. 

In pop music, the artists themselves are a major part of branding for the record label they represent. They have a star image amongst their fans and specific terms of persona attached to their public image. I have also attempted to create an image for my artist, such that she represents a social concern and is appealing to her audience. I have given her entire persona an innocent and laid-back, humble image. Her social media page has a very girlish and positive outlook. I have made the simple but wavering imagery on the digipak be in line with the intrusive concept of the music video so that my entire album and its promotional material follow the same theme. Repetition is the style and concept of the album and portrayal of the artist's characteristics would help incorporate my entire music package into a brand image. Fans would be able to recognize my artist with specific characteristics. The social media page that I have created for my artist also presents a very pleasing image for the artist, which is appropriate for a teenage audience. The artist also tends to promote her work in the music video, putting up the behind-the-scenes clip and teasing the audience with short clips of singing to the music o from the production process. This is likely to keep the audience in tune with the release of the album. I would be releasing my music through platforms like YouTube, Spotify, and iTunes, which have a large rate of usage. 

My target demographics were teenagers and young adults, up to the ages of 25. Since pop music has a worldwide audience, so my target audience is not restricted to a specific geographic segmentation, so which is also an advantage in fan engagement.